It is desirable to provide certain types of industrial, commercial or governmental vehicles with two or more sets of controls for driving and/or operating the vehicle. For example, a street sweeper, garbage truck or postal vehicle may require a second set of controls so that the operator may easily and conveniently service both sides of a street. Such vehicles are known as “dual steer” vehicles. Each set of controls for driving and/or operating the vehicle typically must have its own throttle assembly.
Due to market limitations and cost considerations, many dual steer vehicles, or other vehicles with multiple controls, must be custom produced by retrofitting standard original equipment manufacturer (OEM) vehicles. Many such standard vehicles operate using “throttle-by-wire” systems where a computer or electronic control module interfaces with the throttle pedal or lever to control the vehicle engine speed. Such a setup makes retrofitting a standard OEM vehicle difficult as the OEM throttle-by-wire electronic module or computer must receive two or more sets of throttle inputs. This may “confuse” the OEM computer so that it malfunctions and shuts down or delivers error codes or warning lights to the vehicle dashboard or other instrumentation.
A need exists for a device or system that addresses at least some of these issues by providing a “clean” signal to the OEM computer/electronic control module. Such a device or system ideally would make the multiple vehicle throttle assemblies transparent to the ECM.